To better understand the effects of the media on audiences, five media sociology theoretical approaches to the study of influences on media were investigated by looking at tests of the approaches in three journals over the last 10 years. The mirror approach predicted that the media would accurately represent reality, but, while accurate, the media were found to be unrepresentative. Four other theoretical perspectives--routines of newsgathering, the journalist-centered approach, social/institutional influence, and the hegemony approach--provided different explanations for the distortions that were found in mass media content. The findings suggest that the mirror approach be abandoned, and that the other four media sociology approaches be modified, with the hegemony approach (which suggests that journalists and media owners have a vested interest in seeing that the status quo continues) serving as a theoretical umbrella for the three more testable approaches. (Summaries of the studies used are included.) (Author/CRH)